Value co-creation in partnerships: Case study of Esport Honka

Abstract

Partnerships in sports business are often researched from the perspective of marketing activities. While marketing activities are important factor for sports organizations and sponsors, this study aims to provide more holistic view on partnerships from the perspective of strategic management and examine partnerships by utilizing value co-creation framework. This study focuses on examining how value is being co-created in partnerships. Firstly, in order to understand how value co-creation occurs in partnerships, the activities that drive the development of partnerships are identified and presented. Secondly, the key resources, knowledge and capabilities that have an effect to the success of value co-creation process are examined. This study is conducted as a case study that researches the partnerships of Esport Honka, a Finnish football club. Esport Honka is a business unit of a large indoor sport complex business Esport Group. The empirical data is collected in eight semi-structured interviews. The interviews consist of five partnerships, in which both sides, Esport Honka and the sponsor, are interviewed to form comprehensive understanding of the activities, resources and capabilities involved in the value co-creation process in partnerships. The interviewed partners were selected on the basis of the importance of the partners for the sports’ organization.

Partnerships in the context of football in Finland are important if not the most important source of revenue for football clubs. Therefore, the activities conducted in partnerships can define not only the revenue base for sports’ organizations, increased sales and brand awareness enhancement for sponsors, but simultaneously, they can contribute to the success factor on the field as larger revenue base can be used to attract better players. Managing, innovating and cultivating activities in collaboration with partners can become a strategic capability for sports organization and a deciding factor in highly competitive market. Additionally, capability building in managing partnerships require constant systematic evaluation of the current practices and innovating new practices by combining new resources, capabilities and knowledge in different methods. Value-adding resources, capabilities and knowledge are created internally within the Esport group, in collaboration with partner or in larger network context involving a multitude of stakeholders. All the resources, capabilities and knowledge from different stakeholders are constantly combined in the creation of stories. Since sports organizations cannot be the only entity in creating a story, it needs to involve other stakeholders to the story creation process. Nevertheless, the input of sports organization in the creation of stories is vital. The main role of a sports organization in a value co-creation process is to exist as a platform that brings a large group of different stakeholders together and connects each stakeholder to a value creating story.

The main findings of the study explain in detail the value co-creating activities that are currently present in partnerships between Esport Honka and sponsors. Additionally, the conclusion part points out important factors that contribute to developing resources, capabilities and knowledge that could be utilized in enhancing the activities performed in the partnerships.